TWO FOR TUESDAY - "NEGATIVE REACTION" FOR CROSSOVERS

‘COLUMBO’
“NEGATIVE REACTION”






I found two theoretical connections in this episode, one of them being an inner crossover to another ‘Columbo’ episode.

Here’s the first one, a traditional bit of conjecture….

Paul Galesko:
I had some pictures to take in a mountain area up north of the Valley. I'm a photographer, Lieutenant, on an assignment with a magazine.

We never learn what magazine commissioned the assignment.  But I’m sure Columbo looked into that to make sure that Galesko wasn’t lying to him.






But when I’m thinking of magazines in Toobworld, my go-to has always been those which were published by Howard Publications, as seen in the NBC mystery “wheel” ‘The Name Of The Game’.  



The two magazines most often mentioned in the show were Crime (edited by former FBI agent Dan Farrell) and People (where Jeff Dillon was a reporter.)  But I’m sure Glenn Howard’s empire had other magazines in play, perhaps even a nature magazine, something similar to National Geographic.  At the very least, I’m going to stick with the theory that it was published by Glenn Howard’s corporation.

Let's take a look at the other example....

Paul Galesko:
Mrs. Galesko isn't here.
She's visiting relatives.
Mrs. Moyland:
Oh? That's strange, her going off.
With the symphony opening tonight 
and her buying that new dress and all.






With this exchange of dialogue, I’m making the inner crossover.  The symphony which was having their opening that night was the Southern Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles.  This was Liz Fielding’s “baby” seen in the ‘Columbo’ episode “Etude In Black”.  By the time Frances Galesko was planning to attend, Mrs. Fielding’s son-in-law Alex Benedict was no longer the maestro.  (He was incarcerated on death row, but with many years of appeals ahead of him.)

Who could have been the conductor that night?  Being the opening night, the conductor would be whoever succeeded Benedict.  Had the ‘Negative Reaction’ episode took place a year or so later, I would have suggested Mason Woodruff, the junior conductor at the Boston Symphony (seen in the series ‘Friends & Lovers’.)






Any suggestions as to who the conductor could have been?  Of course I’m looking for a conductor who was a character in some other TV show.

Two for Tuesday!